Roasted veggies nestled in cheese spread find home on flaky pastry

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PUFF PASTRY TART WITH ROASTED VEGGIES
2 cups zucchini cut in half lengthwise, then into 1⁄4-inch slices
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch squares
2 cups eggplant in 1⁄2-inch cubes
1 pint grape tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
3⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 tablespoon pepper
1⁄2 cup part-skim ricotta
1⁄3 cup goat cheese
1⁄3 cup crumbled feta
1 large egg, well beaten
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed but very well chilled
1. Place one rack in the upper third of the oven and the other in the lower third. Heat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Put the zucchini, red onion, red pepper, eggplant, tomatoes and garlic on a baking sheet. Combine the olive oil, rosemary, 1⁄2 teaspoon of the salt, and 1⁄4 teaspoon of the pepper, drizzle the mixture on the vegetables, and toss them. Roast the vegetables until they have softened and browned around the edges, about 30 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the vegetables cool, about 5 minutes.
3. While the veggies roast, combine the ricotta, goat cheese, feta, egg, green onion, and the remaining salt and pepper in a medium bowl and set aside.
4. Spray the counter with cooking spray and pat down a roughly 14-inch square of parchment paper so it doesn't slip around. Roll out one piece of pastry on the parchment into a 13-by-11-inch rectangle. (Cover the other pastry with a clean towel while you're working so that it doesn't dry out).
5. Transfer the parchment to a baking sheet and cut 1-inch strips from all 4 sides. Create a border around the tart by brushing the edges of the rectangle with water and laying the cut strips on top, trimming to fit.
6. Poke holes in the bottom of the pastry with a fork. Repeat the process to make a second tart crust. Place one baking sheet on the upper rack and one on the lower and bake the pastries for 5 minutes; rotate the pans, swapping the one on the bottom with the one on the top, and bake 5 minutes more.
7. Remove the pastries from the oven, poke them with a fork, and use a spatula to carefully press down the puffed centers. Return the pastries to the oven to cook for 5 minutes more, then cool the pans on wire racks for about 5 minutes.
8. Divide the cheese mixture between the pastries and spread it evenly, then divide and add the vegetables. Bake the tarts until the cheese is set, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking time, as in step 6.
9. Cool the tarts on racks for a few minutes, then slice each into 6 squares and serve warm or at room temperature.
Makes 12 servings
— www.parents.com
• Per serving: 298 calories, 21 grams fat, 2 grams fiber, 7.1 grams protein, 23 grams carbohydrate, 335 milligrams sodium, 26 milligrams cholesterol
Values are approximate.

This puff pastry tart with roasted veggies was photographed in the Erie Times-News studio in Erie on July 10. ANDY COLWELL/ERIE TIMES-NEWS

While I like most of the components that go into Mediterranean cooking, I don't always like them together. I have a limited tolerance for cured olives and artichokes, for example, and I've probably ruined myself on the cuisine by repeatedly overcooking the attendant chicken breast.

And do not come near me with cold bulgur; my feelings about tabbouleh are unprintable.

This recipe, though, had me at "roasted vegetables" -- before I even got to the three kinds of cheese and puff pastry.

Five things I learned:

1. After years of using -- and loving -- puff pastry, it finally occurred to me that it's kind of like phyllo dough. So what's the difference? Can you use either one? Why have I not asked these questions?

Well, it appears you can sometimes substitute one for the other, but you'll get different results. While they are both flaky doughs made with flour and cold fat, they're produced in different ways.

Puff pastry is a made with dough that's wrapped around cold butter and then undergoes a complicated process of folding, rolling and turning. It ends up as hundreds of layers of dough, each coated in cold butter. When you cook it, the butter gives off steam that makes the dough puff up, nearly eight times as high as when it's raw.

Phyllo dough is sold in single sheets so thin they're translucent. They call for a gentle touch. Recipes with phyllo, such as those for baklava, frequently call for making a crust of several layers of phyllo separated by melted butter. The finished product will come out more flat and crispy than puff pastry, though that's not necessarily a bad thing.

2. Where does pie crust fit into all this? In March, I wrote about making an Asparagus Tart. The original recipe called for puff pastry, which I thought I had in the house, but didn't, so I made a pie crust instead.

It tasted good, but pie dough is just one layer of cold fat and flour. A good pie crust, while flaky, comes out considerably more dense -- think sliceable -- than puff pastry.

3. Puff pastry isn't just fun to say, it can be a lot of fun to cook with. All you have to do is unfold it, pierce it and bake it. It's hard to think of anything, sweet or savory, that wouldn't taste good on it.

It comes frozen, two half-pound sheets to a box, each folded in thirds. For this, you need it to be thawed enough to roll, but still cold so it doesn't get mushy. I'd put the box in the refrigerator overnight.

I didn't think of that and had to warm mine in the microwave for about 20 seconds on 30 percent power to thaw it a bit more. While you're working on one of them, keep the second one covered and refrigerated.

4. When you pre-bake puff pastry, you have to pierce it with a fork to keep it from puffing up too much. When you take it out, you'll still have to press it down gently with the back of an offset spatula so you can spread the cheese mixture and put the vegetables on it without their rolling off.

5. The recipe said to roll out the pastry on a floured surface and then transfer it to parchment paper. I just rolled it out on the parchment paper. I sprayed the counter with cooking spray and patted the parchment down so that it wouldn't slip while I was rolling.

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MORE ONLINE: To read more food-related stories, get recipes, see food-related photo galleries and videos, click here.
PUFF PASTRY TART WITH ROASTED VEGGIES
2 cups zucchini cut in half lengthwise, then into 1⁄4-inch slices
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch squares
2 cups eggplant in 1⁄2-inch cubes
1 pint grape tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, chopped
3⁄4 teaspoon salt
1⁄2 tablespoon pepper
1⁄2 cup part-skim ricotta
1⁄3 cup goat cheese
1⁄3 cup crumbled feta
1 large egg, well beaten
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed but very well chilled
1. Place one rack in the upper third of the oven and the other in the lower third. Heat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Put the zucchini, red onion, red pepper, eggplant, tomatoes and garlic on a baking sheet. Combine the olive oil, rosemary, 1⁄2 teaspoon of the salt, and 1⁄4 teaspoon of the pepper, drizzle the mixture on the vegetables, and toss them. Roast the vegetables until they have softened and browned around the edges, about 30 minutes. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the vegetables cool, about 5 minutes.
3. While the veggies roast, combine the ricotta, goat cheese, feta, egg, green onion, and the remaining salt and pepper in a medium bowl and set aside.
4. Spray the counter with cooking spray and pat down a roughly 14-inch square of parchment paper so it doesn't slip around. Roll out one piece of pastry on the parchment into a 13-by-11-inch rectangle. (Cover the other pastry with a clean towel while you're working so that it doesn't dry out).
5. Transfer the parchment to a baking sheet and cut 1-inch strips from all 4 sides. Create a border around the tart by brushing the edges of the rectangle with water and laying the cut strips on top, trimming to fit.
6. Poke holes in the bottom of the pastry with a fork. Repeat the process to make a second tart crust. Place one baking sheet on the upper rack and one on the lower and bake the pastries for 5 minutes; rotate the pans, swapping the one on the bottom with the one on the top, and bake 5 minutes more.
7. Remove the pastries from the oven, poke them with a fork, and use a spatula to carefully press down the puffed centers. Return the pastries to the oven to cook for 5 minutes more, then cool the pans on wire racks for about 5 minutes.
8. Divide the cheese mixture between the pastries and spread it evenly, then divide and add the vegetables. Bake the tarts until the cheese is set, 15 to 20 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking time, as in step 6.
9. Cool the tarts on racks for a few minutes, then slice each into 6 squares and serve warm or at room temperature.
Makes 12 servings
— www.parents.com
• Per serving: 298 calories, 21 grams fat, 2 grams fiber, 7.1 grams protein, 23 grams carbohydrate, 335 milligrams sodium, 26 milligrams cholesterol
Values are approximate.